Because That Makes PERFECT Sense
by Mrs Billy Pratt
Summary: Loki eventually takes over North America and separates SHIELD. WHAT WILL HAPPEN? Written by both me, Mrs. Billy Pratt, and Lacey Grimstone! Mix between my series The Adventures of the New Recruits and her's: A New Beginning! OC, established and crumbling StevexOC. Rated T just to be safe. No slash here.
1. Chapter 1

**From the Desk of Mrs. Billy Pratt: Starting a fic with my buddy **_**Lacey Grimstone **_**(excellent author by the way) and it doesn't have a plot so far. There will be StevexOC, BrucexOC, and barest traces of Clintasha. Review to tell us what you want to see in the future and we'll get back to you! Enjoy! **

**Disclaimer: *sigh* No, Clint, I **_**don't **_**own this fandom, okay? Get off my back, man!**

**Clint: (smirks) I try to make the lives of those surrounding me more interesting.**

**Me: Shut up.**

Juliette's POV

"Well," yelled Steve, "fine! I don't care, anyways! It's not like it matters what I think! I'm just a hero, why should I get anything I want every once in a while?"

"_Because_ you're a hero!" I spat at him, "Heroes are just images, figments! And you, Steve Rogers," I leaned in close to him and looked up into his angry face, "are a freaking _HERO!"_

As I walked away, I knew that his face was contorted into an image of barely contained rage as he shouted, "What does that make _you_?" I stopped in my tracks and it was all I could do not to scream in his face. I turned and faced him.

"_Strong,"_ I barely whispered the word in his direction, but I knew that he could hear the vicious taunt.

I turned back around and stomped away, leaving him standing there in the middle of the hall.

He called after me, "And I want my shirt back!"

"Well FINE, then, you can have your stupid shirt back, I never cared about it anyways! It's _JUST A STUPID SHIRT! Get over yourself,____CAPTAIN!_" I screamed the last sentence, daring him to reply, knowing that he wouldn't, and then ran up the stairs just in case I was wrong.

I went into my room in the agents' quarters, ripped the top drawer of my nightstand open, tore everything in it out, and then stormed to the railing on the edge of the stairs.

"Here's your stuff back, jerk wad!" I screamed as I dumped everything over the railing. Skittles, chocolate bars, sketches, a watch, some pencils, random cheesy notes from him, a small sketchbook, and pretty much anything else fell out and landed on the landing of the floor he was on.

"Wha-what the heck was that for?" he spluttered angrily.

"You wanted your shirt back, you _got _it back!" I yelled.

"That was totally uncalled for!" he raged.

I stuck my tongue out at him and bounced off to the kitchen. On my way there, I could hear Steve yelling, "You are being _so _childish!" and then Bruce saying, "Uh…Steve?"

When I got there, my face felt hot with anger. I mean, the least he could have done was _ask _for crying out loud! And the way he thought he was so superior to me was just so…aggravating. What had I _seen _in him? He was just a big, fat, confused jerk, who had _no_ respect for me, and he was always too worried, and whenever he got worried his eyebrows would get all scrunched up and he always was so protective…

I scrunched up my nose. "Shut up, me," I muttered angrily just as I walked into the kitchen.

"Uh," said Clint confusedly, "what?"

I groaned. "It's nothing."

"Jules, if there's something on your mind—"

"There's not!" I snapped.

He backed off. "Okay…I'll be in my room if you need me." He watched me suspiciously as he left.

I groaned again. Now I didn't have _any_ friends, which was my own entire fault.

Fortunately, Natasha walked in at that moment.

"Jules," she started seriously, "I heard you and Steve fighting earlier," she adopted a worried look, "Is everything okay between you two?"

For a few seconds, I just stood staring at her with a very blank look. Then I yelled.

"OHH! That man gets on my nerves! I don't know WHY he does it but he does it, and I tried to ignore it, change the conversation subject, I just couldn't! He is _way _too forceful, and he gets worried all the time, and then he goes and starts being my boyfriend, and then he actually _kissed _me, except he ruined it by going and getting some stupid _girl _to start following him around, and then he tries to tell me that she's just another agent, except I don't believe him because she tried to kiss him, even though he said to me that he'd only kissed someone twice other than me, and the second time it was with Peggy, and the first time it was some chick that basically forced him into it, and he thinks I'm jealous and I think he's being disrespectful, but he keeps saying that I'm bringing this onto myself, and he keeps making everything complicated, but I guess when we fight, I just make him madder, but I really just want him to hug me again, because whenever he hugs me, I feel safe, like I can't get hurt by the bad people again, except he's mad at me and I just want him to apologize, even though I know that he's too proud to, he should want to for me!"

Natasha was silent. She appeared to think it over for about a minute, and then she put simply, "Apologize."

I groaned. Natasha walked over to the coffee maker and said, "You're worried that he's giving up on you. You think that he doesn't even love you enough to apologize, but what you don't know is that _he _wants to go steady, or something, but he doesn't want to ask or _do _it, so he keeps messing up, and now he thinks that you've taken an interest in that McNab kid."

I was stunned. "Who, Buzz?" I asked in disbelief, and then shook myself out of it. I sighed, "Natasha, you've always been like an older sister to me, but I don't think you understand. There's a bit more to it." I mumbled the last part.

At first she didn't get it, but after a few seconds she did. Her eyes widened. "Oh, no. This doesn't mean—"

But just before she could finish, Bruce, Steve, and a medium sized girl with brown wavy hair and green eyes walked in.

"Natasha," Bruce started weakly, "Juliette, this is…Elise."

**A/A/N: Bum, bum, BUMMMM. There it is! HAHA! **

**To all the Psych fans who are reading this, YES! THAT IS **_**THE**_** BUZZ MCNAB!**

**Oh, yeah, and also…Did you hear about Steve Nash? That's messed up, right? [That was also a Psych reference.]**

**Review, because we need to see if it sucks or not!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Ok so here's my new story that I am working on with the FABULOUS author ****Mrs. Billy Pratt!**** Its a mix of our two stories; mine, A New Beginning and hers The Adventures of the New Recruits! It'll be a Steve/OC and eventually a Bruce/OC Enjoy~~ :)**

**Elise's POV:**

"Bruce, I don't think this is a good idea…" I told him messing with the zipper of my sweater. "Its just I don't know any of these people and-"

"Would you calm down?" He asked me with a grin on his face. "Come on, we're almost there."

We drove around the corner in the car Tony Stark had gotten Bruce for the time he was going to be here in New York, at the street was a building that I knew could only be made by Tony Stark.

The Stark Tower stood proudly, and, well, arrogantly in the center of New York City. As it was daytime the lights that I had seen before were off though you could clearly make out the enormous rebuilt STARK lights at the top.

"At least I got meeting Stark out of the way…" I said crossing my arms my chest. "He's the most difficult I assume, yes?"

"Well, you haven't met Jules yet." He told me, not taking his eyes off of the road.

"And Jules is…?" I asked waiting for him to finish the sentence. That of course didn't happen. I kept running scenarios through my mind of what it will be like to meet; Thor 'the God of thunder', Captain America, those assassins…who could blame me for being worried? Oh and I almost forgot…there is also _Jules_.

"Here we are." Bruce said pulling up to the front of the building. There was a man standing outside as if prepared for our arrival. Bruce got out of the car after parking just on the side of the busy New York road, I quickly followed him.

"I'll take your keys, Dr. Banner." The man said holding out his hand. Oh, ok...he was a valet. Or at least I hoped he was... Bruce handed him the keys and continued his way into the building, me being right behind him.

"Wow…" I said unknowingly aloud, looking around the gigantic lobby of the Stark Tower. The secretary behind the desk stood up to greet us.

"You must be Dr. Banner." She said sticking her hand out towards Bruce. Well, never mind, I guess to greet Bruce. "And this is Elise Stevens, am I right?" She said turning her attention to me. "You're girlfriend, she's very-"

"No, no." Bruce said turning a light shade of red. "We're not-" I cut him off.

"Don't believe anything Tony tells you." I told her running a nervous hand through my hair; even though I couldn't see it I knew I was red as well.

"You know, I don't appreciate you ordering around my secretaries." A familiar voice said from behind us. I turned my head to see none other than Tony Stark himself making his way out of the elevator. "And I only spread the truth." I sent him a small glare to only have it disappear off of my face when he pulled me into a hug.

"Its good to see you too, Tony…" I said patting him on the back as a sign that I was uncomfortable. He let go and went to go talk to Bruce…about science. Not my strong suit. I acted like it was for Bruce's sake though. Finally the two parted Tony began making his way out of the building, "Wait where is he going?" I asked as Bruce put a hand on my back and guided me to the elevator.

"A meeting. He'll be back later." He assured me. He pressed the level that everyone was supposed to be on, and if I didn't know better there was a button that said 'Hulk's hideout'…what? I simply shrugged it off and went back to focusing on my nervousness.

"Im going to throw up." I told him crossing my arms. "I hate meeting new people."

"Well, if you're going to throw up please wait till we are out of the elevator." He told me causing me to laugh.

"Well," copying him. "If im going to throw up in the elevator I suppose you could just go to 'Hulk's hideout' to keep calm..." I told him smirking. He only rolled his eyes and smiled. Finally we reached the floor that everyone was on; the doors opened to reveal a long hallway.

"Come on." He said his hand returning on my back. As we walked down the hallway there was yelling going on from inside one of the rooms, it was a woman's voice.

"Sounds like Jules." Bruce said opening up one of the several doors in the hallway. A man standing about 6'4" stood inside, I recognized him as Steve Rogers, otherwise known as Captain America.

"You're being so childish!" Steve yelled.

"Uh…Steve?" Bruce said announcing our presence in the room. Steve turned his head our way and put on what seemed like a very forced smile.

"Dr. Banner." He said greeting him. "This must be Elise." He said shaking my hand. I only smiled and nodded.

"Where is everyone else?" Bruce asked looking around the room. Steve motioned his head towards the other room, where he had been yelling to earlier. I followed Bruce into the next room to see two women sitting at the table, cups of coffee in hand.

"Natasha, Juliette; this is Elise." Bruce said pushing me ahead of him towards the two sitting at the table.

"Im Natasha Romanoff." The red head told me. "And this is-"

"Juliette Rosewood." The other girl said finishing Natasha's sentence.

"Elise Stevens." I said nodding my head at the two.

"I'll be right back, I have to go meet with-" Bruce started only to be cut off once again by me.

"Don't leave me alone." I whispered grabbing onto his sleeve.

"They won't hurt you." He said laughing. I made a noise that could be mistake for some sort of animal growling and turned to the two who were looking curiously at me.

"Want some coffee?" Juliette, who I just figured was the same as this _Jules_, asked me.

"Oh…uh sure." I said sitting across the table from Natasha whose eyes were still on me. "Um…so you're an assassin?" I asked attempting to make conversation but clearly failed miserably.

"Yes" She said simply. "You're the force field girl, right?"

"Yes" I said mimicking her answer. She smiled a bit and nodded.

"Here's your coffee..." Juliette said handing me a cup of fresh coffee. I reluctantly took it and took a few sips; honestly I don't know why I agreed to have coffee...I hate coffee.

"So" I said attempting to start a conversation with the two again. "Was that you yelling?" Juliette turned a bit red.

"Was I that loud?" She asked with a grin on her face. I only nodded and winced as I took another sip of coffee. "Have you stopped by your room yet?" She asked changing the subject completely.

"No...I didn't know we were staying here." I told her, apparently Bruce left that part out. "Im guessing Bruce is staying in the 'Hulks hideout'?" I asked making myself laugh again just by saying that.

"Yupp!" She said smiling a bit. "Tony made sure to make an entire floor dedicated to Bruce's...'other guy'." She said using air quotes. "You're staying in there too, right?" I glanced up at her feeling my blush return, I really hated Tony sometimes. She smirked at me and shook her head, "Im kidding! I've been here long enough to know when Tony Stark is lying or not." She told me setting a hand on my shoulder leading me out of the room.

"Uh, Jules?" Natasha said standing up from the table now too. We both turned to her.

"Yes?" Juliette asked, letting her hand drop from my shoulder to her side.

"What about...him?" She asked motioning her head towards the other room, I had guessed she was talking about Steve.

"I'll deal with him later." Juliette said rolling her eyes. "Come on, El." She led me out of the kitchen to lead me to my new room. I began feeling myself getting calm again, maybe it wouldn't be so bad staying with everyone. Then again I still had a few others to meet...

**Let me know what you think! Thanks so much for reading~ LG**


	3. Chapter 3

**From the Desk of Mrs. Billy Pratt: Hey guys! It's me again. Chapter three is going to be in the Captain's POV and Juliette's POV. Hope you like it so far!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Avengers, okay? You don't need to rub it in.**

Steve's POV

I cursed myself as I walked into my room, my hands full of the stuff that had been in Juliette's room. I threw the stuff onto the floor and sat on my bed, just staring at the floor with my hands clasped in between my legs. "Dammit!" I stood up and looked at the ceiling. My hands were now rubbing the spot on my neck that always hurt when I had a headache.

I didn't have a headache though. My whole being hurt.

I wanted to run back to Juliette and just hold her, tell her that I was sorry, but I knew that I just couldn't. She would be offended; she would think that I assumed that she would just rush into my arms like a romance novel.

"Hey, Cap," Natasha entered my room, "is…are you and Jules okay?"

"I don't want to talk about it," I muttered.

She sat down next to me. "Yes," she soothed, "Yes, you do Steve. I know you."

I stared at her for a few seconds. Then I started talking all at once.

"She's mad at me for no apparent reason, and I don't get women, or girls, and I can't figure out what she wants, but I want to go further in our relationship, but she won't because of Adam, except now everybody thinks we're officially 'an item' and I don't even know what that _means_, I just heard it from Hawk, but she's mad at me and I think that _she_ thinks that I'm too protective and I can't help it because I just want my family to be protected, and I'm the only one who can protect everyone from themselves, except I'm terrible at doing that so now I don't know where I stand in this whole damn place!"

I knew I had said too much, but Natasha took it in like a sponge. "Apologize."

I groaned and went back to having my hands covering my face.

"She wants normalcy as much as you do. Probably more, in fact. You're making both your lives harder by ignoring the fact that you don't like this whole 'casual' thing."

"I wish it were that easy," I muttered bitterly.

Her eyes widened, and she said, "Oh, no. This doesn't imply that—"

Just then Tony came bursting into the room. "Alien task force, just east of Battery Park."

I cursed under my breath, Natasha not so quietly. "Suit up." I said confidently.

Tony rolled his eyes. "Because I was really going to go out there in my underwear."

"Just suit up." I got up and walked to the door.

"Yes sir, Captain, sir." He raised his arm in mock salute.

I walked out of the room, muttering, "At ease, men."

**Meanwhile…**

Juliette's POV

"Jules!" cried Hawkeye as he ran down the hall, bows in hand. He stopped short when he saw Elise. "Oh. I mean, um, hi. You must be Bruce's…"

"Um, no," I interrupted quickly as El blushed. "They're just friends."

"Ah. Right." Hawkeye sounded just a bit disbelieving, but he continued normally, "Alien task force by Battery Park, we all just got the message to suit up. It's about time that we nail this son of a-"

"Wait, wait, wait. What?" I cried.

"Yeah. Loki's gonna be there, too. It's probably more dangerous than usual, so I suggest you get to the command center." He said nonchalantly.

"But…," I started, "what about…"

He cut me off. "Steve?" He grinned, "Oh, he'll be fine, I'm sure—"

"That's _not_ what I was going to say," I growled, and he raised his eyebrow at me.

"Calm down, little sis. I was joking," he laughed, "Got to go. There are aliens to kill." He hugged me and said, "Make sure that you don't get killed, yourself."

"That was Hawkeye?" asked El, as he walked away.

"Yeah," I said distractedly.

"I didn't know that he had a sister," she wondered.

"Oh," I chuckled, "he's not really my brother. My family kind of sucks, so the agents are like my replacement family. Natasha is my older sister, Bruce acts like my dad, Tony, my uncle, Hawk's my big brother." I finished happily.

"What about Steve?" she sounded really confused now.

"Don't even get me started," I grumbled.

"Oh. Who else is here?" she said, smartly avoiding the previous conversation.

"No one you've ever heard of," I replied, "Mostly just us agents."

As if on cue, Buzz passed by, holding Fury's coffee. "Hey Jules!" he said brightly, "Hey, I heard about you and St—"

"Buzz," I offered, "if you don't change the subject right now, I will show you just how well Natasha's training is."

He gulped, "O-okay." He smiled again and gave me a high five before moving on.

"That's my friend Buzz," I said. "He's the nicest person ever, but honestly, he's so clueless sometimes."

"He seemed kind of empty," she mused.

I laughed. "That's Buzz for ya."

"Well," she started, stuttering a bit, "I can tell that you like living with Tony? Or, I mean…"

I laughed. "I know what you mean. I actually don't live here: I live with the other agents at the Avengers Tower, but we're all staying here because Tony and Bruce blew up some highly toxic element, so as soon as the radiation is cleared up, we can go back."

She gaped at me. 'And…and this is _normal_?"

"Well," I shrugged, "yeah. But it won't happen here."

She relaxed somewhat, but her expression was still slightly worried.

"Let's go check out the command center." I changed the subject and patted her back, "Time to watch my family get beat up." I mumbled.


	4. The end is NEAR!

Here is the new chapter! Enjoy~

We do not own anything besides the OCs.

Elise's POV:

I followed Jules' brisk pace to the command center to find the rest of them already I there, including Tony and Bruce.

"What's going on?" I asked walking up to Bruce making sure not to bump into any of the several agents walking around in here.

"Alien task force." Bruce said looking up at the enormous screen showing the current events happening in what I guessed to be Battery Park. He told me nothing more than what I already knew from Hawkeye. "Look you stay here with Jules; we're going-"

"Wait, what?" I asked cutting him off. "Why am I not going? I'd be more help there than I would be here…I mean I'll just get in the way." I told him.

"I just-" He trailed off until finally coming up with what to say next. "I just don't think this is safe-"

"When are Alien task forces ever safe?" I asked feeling myself getting agitated.

"I would just listen to him. Don't want to get him all riled up." Tony said patting Bruce on the shoulder, clearly having been eavesdropping the whole time. "Come on, big man, we have things to do."

I glanced up at Bruce who was sending Tony a warning glare before turning his attention back to me, "Please, El? Just this once?" I sighed and nodded.

"Fine…" I said sounding almost childlike. "Just, be careful." I told him just before Tony dragged him away.

"I don't want to do this now." A voice said from behind me. I turned around to find Steve, who was already suited up in his Captain America suit talking to, well, attempting to talk to Jules. "Just go!" She said waving him away.

He was about to say something but gave up, he turned around towards the direction Bruce and Tony had just exited out of glancing up at me only to have his gaze return to the floor.

I was left alone with the other agents, including Jules keeping an eye on the whole scenario going down. These creatures, these aliens…they were nothing like I had ever scene before. Then again how often to you come across an alien?

"Target located." A voice that I recognized as Tony's said. Another screen switched on to see only Tony's face, the camera from inside of his suit. Several other screens popped up showing the action from many different angles. I didn't know which one to focus on!

Finally I spotted some familiar faces show up on the screens: Hawkeye, who was with Natasha, Bruce, in his other 'form', Captain America and Thor, who I had managed to miss meeting in my short time being here. They were clearly outnumbered, I mean by the hundreds. I knew they had done something like this before…but I couldn't imagine it going the same it was here and them winning in the end.

"Find Loki, it won't mean anything fighting off the aliens unless you find the source of where they are coming from. Loki is the only who knows." Jules voice said speaking into a headset she had on. She seemed nervous about this entire thing, I knew not to ask any questions, but I couldn't stand not knowing everything that was happening.

"They've done this before…right?" I asked wincing after watching Natasha take a huge blow to the head by one of the aliens.

"Not like this." She told me before flipping her headset back on. "Cap, go to Natasha." She ordered. My eyes traced over the screens to see Captain America running towards the wounded assassin.

He stopped dead in his tracks after watching several of the aliens surrounding her, most likely thinking of what to do next. He grabbed his shield and threw it like a Frisbee at the aliens beheading a few of them. The shield, in full on boomerang style, came back to him gathering the attention of the aliens; this must have been his plan so he could get them away from Natasha who looked unconscious.

Jules was pacing the room causing several agents to have to move out of the way, but not once did she take her eyes off of the screens.

"STEVE WATCH-" She stopped and winced as she watched the super soldier run straight into a Target billboard that was spread across one of the sides of the trucks stopped in the street. He seemed a bit dazed from the collision between him and the truck.

"Steve, get up! Steve can you hear me?" Jules asked tapping on her headset. Immediately she ripped it off of her head and threw it to the floor. "I lost contact with Rogers." Jules yelled towards the other agents who were furiously trying to find a new way to get into contact.

"Tell Stark to-"

"Lost all communication with Stark." One of the agents said. I hadn't noticed at that the screen with Starks face had disappeared; all that was there was static. I felt my stomach flip; this wasn't going the way it was supposed to, I had a feeling.

"Jules, please tell me what is happ-"

"We've lost contact with Barton." Jules said running a hand through her hair. All of the screens that played out the scene of the battle between the Avengers and the aliens shut off. "What's going on? Reboot the system! NOW!" Jules ordered to the agents who seemed to be as confused and nervous as I was.

"We're unable to reboot... what are we supposed to do?" One of the agents called. Most of the agents, including me, turned our attention to Juliette who was practically shaking from either stress or worrying, maybe both.

"Get in touch with Fury." She ordered crossing her arms trying to keep her cool. Before anyone could even make their next move the screens flashed on turning a bright white until a face appeared repeatedly on each of the screens.

"Ah, S.H.I.E.L.D. this seems all too familiar." The man said. It was him; Loki. He had taken over the S.H.I.E.L.D. control systems; and from the looks of it he had taken over the Avengers as well.

Let us know what you think! Reviews are always welcome and are very much appreciated. :) ~LG


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hey guys! It's Mrs. Billy Pratt, and I just wanted to say—**

**Clint: EAT DIRT!**

**Me: …Um…no…I just wanted to say—**

**Clint: SUCK EGGS!**

**Me: Actually, I just—**

**Clint: NINJA MONKEY PANTS!**

**Me: Can somebody take care of this little weirdo?**

**Steve: I got it. Oh, and by the way, folks, Mrs. Billy Pratt doesn't own the Avengers, so don't sue her, okay?**

**Me: Uh…Thanks, Steve. You heard the man! Read!**

Steve's POV

I woke up, I think, in a dark room.

Then I realized that there was a cloth over my eyes, and I immediately knew that I was at the Stark Tower.

Until the cloth was removed.

Then I was suddenly in an interrogation room with the ugliest face in the world staring up at me. I spit blood that was flowing from an open wound in my mouth and said calmly, "Loki."

He smiled, and all of the events of the previous day came flooding back to me.

Actually, I mainly just remembered a large red bull's-eye rushing towards me pretty fast.

"So," Loki paced and smiled winningly, "the hero awakens."

I tightened my jaw. Apparently it had been put out of place. "Yeah. So what exactly do you want from me?" I acted as though this was a diplomatic discussion, and I wasn't tied to a chair with large metal cables.

"Oh," he mused, "nothing much." He inhaled sharply before continuing, feigning curiosity, "Tell me, have you seen anyone else at your precious little agency recently? Specifically," he grinned and I spit again, "an agent called Rosewood?"

I tried not to show any reaction, but I knew that I had paled. "No," I failed at keeping the concern from my voice, "have you?"

He smiled broader, and I knew that he had won. "Actually," he began, "I have. You see, after I successfully took control over you and your pathetic team, I gained control over SHIELD. My teams of 'aliens', as you call them, separated each and every member of it so that you will never see any of them again. Including," he laughed, "your precious Juliette."

I spit a good mixture of blood and spit in his face. He backed away, and I gurgled, "How does it feel to be a loser, Loki?" I wasn't in a good position to be taunting him, and this fact enforced itself when Loki slapped me across the face. It stung and bruised almost immediately; he was a god, like Thor, therefore his strength matched mine, maybe even went past it.

"How does _that_ feel, mortal?" he hissed. My head bowed.

"Hmm. Normally, torture is—oh, yes, torture—torture is below me, but for an insignificant mewing quim like you, I can sink to the level of even Midguardians," I had looked up so sharply when he said torture that my neck hurt.

"Shall we use poison," he suggested lightly, pulling out a vial, "or perhaps acid? Ahh…yes, that would be quite painful…but a much simpler method should do just fine." He snapped to something, and a guard appeared. With a shockingly numb feeling, I realized that it was Buzz. Instead of his normally brown eyes, though, were two icy blue orbs. In his hands was a tray of knives: long, short, sharp, needle-like, and even dull ones.

"Mm," smirked Loki. "I see the fear in your eyes, yet I sense that you do not fear for yourself. Do you fear for the pretty bird, the one you call Jules? Or perhaps your…unstable…friend, Mr. Stark. Oh, how I long to etch this knife deep into your chest, just as I did to the fat bald man…foolish mortal."

"Don't talk about Phil that way," I started, my voice dangerously low, "you're half the man he was."

His face was momentarily red, then he spoke, mimicking my tone almost exactly. "He was a stupid Midguardian, a mere human. He was half the man I am." He stared at me, level with my face and spoke again, "How I wish to kill you and your stupid friends for shaming me into this cruel world…starting with the pretty one." When my face involuntarily flinched into an expression of mixed rage and fear, he laughed satisfactorily.

"Don't touch her," I was angry now. I spit more saliva and blood out of my mouth.

"And why shouldn't I?" he said, amused. In his hands was a long, cruel, sharp blade that he lightly traced with his finger.

"Because if you do," I snarled, "I will _personally_ kill you. And it won't be simple."

He laughed, and before I could spit yet again, he took the blade and put it gently on the space around my lips. I looked down at it and I could see my breath fogging up the perfect metal.

"How will you kiss your little bird with lips so scarred?" he whispered.

I didn't move. He put pressure on the blade and broke through the first layer of skin. I assumed that red gushed from the wound, adding to the thick layer of various liquids that filled my mouth. I couldn't taste it; I had too much blood in my mouth already.

He stopped. "That is just a taste of what will come. Take him from my sight." Loki said in distaste, and once again, Buzz entered the room and somehow managed to lift me and the chair out of the room, where the blindfold was placed on my head once more.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I feel so evil right now! I keep hurting them…. Oh, well. They don't seem to mind. Right, Steve?**

**Steve: Hmm.**

**Bruce: We don't like you very much right now.**

**Me: But…but…**

**Steve: I liked my lips **_**before**_** they were scarred up, thank you very much!**

**Hulk: Bruce mad.**

**Me: Um…we should get to the –CRASH—story before Hulk -SMASH—destroys my room.**

**Hulk: HULK SMASH!**

**Steve: And—CRASH—Mrs. Billy—SHAKE—Pratt doesn't own—BAM—the Avengers! Now READ!**

Natasha's POV

"Good afternoon, Loki," I spoke coldly, keeping any and all emotion from my voice.

"Oh, I don't think it will be," he replied, irritating me much like an itch—or an agent—that I just can't reach.

"And you seem so sure."

"Indeed I am. You see, I have captured all of the—"

"I don't mean to cause any discomfort, but can you please cut your speech short? I am on a very tight schedule, and this meeting is interfering with it," I breathed. His hideous face contorted with rage, and he hit me across the face.

"You are all alike," he said in disgust. "Even yesterday, I…spoke with your child-like friend, of whom I damaged, perhaps permanently. He, too, was sarcastic, speaking low to me, when it should be the other way around." He leaned in close and I became aware that the pain on my leg was shrapnel, and it was bleeding profusely. "Do you know what I did to him?"

"No, I don't, and I need to wrap this up in about ten minutes or…" I stopped short when I saw that the words were taking no effect on him.

"I cut his beautiful face. Even now, he sits in a dark, lonely room, waiting for death to overcome him. He isn't quite so pretty now, is he?" He smiled coldly.

My heart beat a bit faster. Steve. "Why are you telling me this, Loki?"

"Simply because, as a spy, it is your place to know everything. In fact, why don't we see how your partner is doing, shall we?" He snapped, and the door opened. Nelly stood, still with her lab coat, nametag, she still had that same vibrant purple hair, but instead of holding a stethoscope, she held a chair. With Clint sitting in it. Unconscious. Bleeding.

"This is what I was forced to do," said Loki sadly. At the sound of the god's voice, Clint looked up, saw me, and smiled weakly.

"Hi," he mumbled, "How's your day been?"

I looked straight at him for a few seconds, wishing it weren't really him, but knowing that it was. "Fine, yours?"

"Oh, it's been great. Tortured, a bit, but other than that, nice." He laughed weakly. "I keep remembering Steve crashing into that Target sign. But you're fine now, right?"

"Oh, yes. Just a minor concussion, I suppose."

He nodded. During the course of the previous discussion, Clint had explained to me that Loki had successfully taken control over the entire continent. I asked him if there was any way out, and from what he could see, no.

We were trapped.

"Stop talking, you insufferable mortals!" Loki exclaimed, irritated.

"Now. You are going to watch as your partner in crime is tortured. The end will be only when Miss Romanov here tells me how to access the main database. Nelly, the knives, please." He smiled wickedly.

"Do you really think that we aren't already protected against pain? We trained with Navy SEALS." I cocked my head at him.

He grinned again. "Oh," he said innocently, "you might be invulnerable, but you aren't invincible."

I paled, and Clint nearly passed out.

When Loki untied Clint, Clint tried to stand, to be brave, for my sake, but he was so weak that he collapsed. I kept my line of sight straight ahead, ignoring it, ignoring him, ignoring the position I was in, but I failed. I either thought of Clint, or I thought of Captain, and Tony, and Bruce, and Jules, and Elise…

What had we done right on this mission?

I felt the red rushing once more through me, and part of me was exclaiming a warning, but the sound of the guilt washing through my veins was too loud. I was drowning in my own wrong-doing. I heard, far off in the distance, a gasp for breath, and I couldn't tell who had released it. Sudden memories that I had buried for so long rose to the surface: eight years old, staring into the cold, blank, unseeing stares of my parents; twelve years old, running away from another bad guy; fifteen, meeting Clint; twenty-two, joining SHIELD.

All these thoughts flashed across my brain, and in the distance, I heard a mangled scream.

"Clint!" I realized that I had yelled.

And then, I was back at the interrogation room, Loki's ugly grin in front of me. "Oh, yes," he said, soft and smug. "Love is for children."

Nelly blindfolded the two of us, and dragged us out with the help of another turned agent.

My audience with the god of mischief was over.


End file.
